Róisín Garvey (Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I acknowledge the work of Senator Kyne on the original 2016 legislation. I also acknowledge the work of Senator Fitzpatrick. Deputy Noonan will go down in history as the first Minister of State to get this legislation across the line. We must have hope and there is no hope without action. We know that from the campaigners, climate warriors and environmental NGOs. The Minister of State brings hope because he is taking action. We all know the story now about biodiversity loss. We are sick of hearing about it. What we need to know is what we are doing about it. Through the Minister of State and his team, with the support of Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil, this Government is putting into action what is needed because we are in a biodiversity emergency. We are now three years into the term of this Government and we are always getting stick about everything. Here we are now with a legally binding biodiversity Bill. We have the nature restoration law, which has received the full support of the European Union, in no small part thanks to the support of MEPs from the Government parties, including the Green Party, who were always supporting it, and the support of MEPs from Fine Gael, Sinn Féin and others. The Irish MEPs made the difference for that restoration law. We also have the Bill before the House today. For the first time in history, we have a large amount of land being put aside for the birds of our country. When people are celebrating seeing a sparrow when they used to be common as muck, we have issues. Someone told me they saw two ladybirds in one week when as kids we were covered in them. This is a serious thing. We can laugh all we want but we are not separate. We are part of nature. We need the ladybirds and birds. I thank the Minister of State, who has been committed for over 20 years. It is good to have a Minister of State who gets it and drives people, including civil servants and members of the other Government parties, with him to take action. That is all we have to focus on. There is no hope without action. Today is a very hopeful day because we, as a Government, are taking action.